No Surprises - 2012 - Technologique?

Electronica/IDM

[FOR FREE]

http://nosurprises.bandcamp.com/

• 4 songs to download
• You name the price (min 0,-)
• You get the link if you register your email address
• Listening recommendations: 48Th St

Impressions

Naming your act 'No Surprises' really doesn't leave a lot of room for error does it? Having your album description end with what amounts to a dare only furthers this idea, do you want me to scour over these songs for flaws? Thankfully, No Surprises EP 'Technologique?' doesn't fall into this trap (jokes on me I guess). I'm not usually big into the jittery, high on caffeine headspace that idm (intelligent dance music) occupies, let alone house music, but here I was enthralled for the duration. Admittedly it's only four tracks, but that worked in the music's favour as far as I'm concerned. The tempo is fast and the beats varied, an adrenaline rush that you come down from just in time for the next track to pick up and it all ends leaving you fulfilled. “Smack Your Face” takes a repetitive hand clap effect and layers it over an even more repetitive drum and bass beat that somehow still manages to work as a song (probably the main synth melody these two are backing up). “Sex Fiend” is the musical equivalent to an intoxicated night on the town you won't remember in the morning, where “Bell and Whistles Speak” is rather subdued in comparison to the previous two tracks until things get a little mean and hazy towards the end. It's hypnotic actually, especially as the longer, drawn out beats take control. Not for sleep walkers. The standout track here, and the one that pulls me back for repeated listens is “48th St”. There's something about the way the drum loop and main synth melody meld together that just works. It's tempo is ridiculously fast and taught with an unresolved tension - the moaning a third of the way through adds to the appeal. It's cyberpunk fantasy put to music.. Part of my mind says it sounds like something I've heard before, but I cannot place it. Either way, I've had “48th St” on repeat all week, and if you walk away only listening to one song it'll be this one. You may not dance to 'Technologique?', but it will get inside your head and stick around.